A decade ago, two large institutional investors — PGGM Investments and APG Asset Management –and Maastricht University (The Netherlands) launched “GRESB” to try to develop more efficient access to comparable and reliable data related to the ESG performance of their investments. (GRESB=Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark.)

The initial research for the approach was done by Dr. Nils Kok and Sander Paul van Tongeren.

As the 10-year anniversary is observed in 2019, consider that GRESB data now covers US$4 trillion in real estate and infrastructure value, and the small group of pioneers (there were 10 founding members) is part of a considerable global network of institutional investors, asset owners/managers, and stakeholders including industry partners, ESG service providers and media platforms.

GRESB – Benchmark for Real Assets

The GRESB mission is to assess and benchmark the ESG performance of “real assets” (think: real estate and infrastructure) and move toward standardization and validation of such ESG data for consideration by capital market players.

Real estate and infrastucture industry players can have vital business intelligence to compare where they stand against peers and develop strategies and action plans to catch up or surpass peers — along with a reliable means of sharing their ESG data with investors.

To give you an idea of how far the concept of the GRESB approach has come, today there are more than 1,000 entities participating in the 2019 real estate assessment and 17 funds and 393 assets participating in the 2019 infrastructure assessment.

GRESB covers 100,000 assets in total (of which 66,000 are reported at the asset level for the real estate market).

The GRESB annual survey for asset owners can be challenging — but worth doing for the company. The annual surveys are organized in (7) specific categories with 50 or more questions for responders’ consideration…the results are scores assigned by GRESB.

A Guidance Document helps responders (asset owners/managers) organize their effort to strive for a higher score (“100” is tops; downward scores from there represent percentages).

GRESB bold name members today include CalPERS, Credit Suisse, BlackRock and Aviva on the investing side; and, CBRE, Brookfield, Centerpoint and Manulife Real Estate on the real estate management roster. (Click here for the Member list)

GRESB is reviewing its 2019 results on a global basis with briefing in world capitals. There’ll be shared insights on trends and best practices and reflection on “lessons learned” in the first decade of GRESB.

Here you can find out why these reports matter, and how to get started on the GRESB journey. Guest speakers include Matt Ellis, Founder of Measurabl (a G&A partner organization); Mark Delisis, at Avalon Bay Communities; Ulrich Scharf of GRESB; and Hank and Lou from G&A Institute. You can tune in here.